THE INFLUENCE OF THE HUDSON S BAY COMPANY IN THE EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT OF THE RED RIVER VALLEY OF THE NORTH

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1 THE INFLUENCE OF THE HUDSON S BAY COMPANY IN THE EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT OF THE RED RIVER VALLEY OF THE NORTH A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Science By Earla Elizabeth Croll In Partial Fulfillment for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS Major Department: History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies May 2014 Fargo, North Dakota

2 North Dakota State University Graduate School Title THE INFLUENCE OF THE HUDSON S BAY COMPANY IN THE EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT OF THE RED RIVER VALLEY OF THE NORTH By Earla Elizabeth Croll The Supervisory Committee certifies that this disquisition complies with North Dakota State University s regulations and meets the accepted standards for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE: Dr. Mark Harvey Chair Dr. Gerritdina Justitz Dr. Larry Peterson Dr. Holly Bastow-Shoop Approved: 7/21/2014 Dr. John K. Cox Date Department Chair

3 ABSTRACT THE INFLUENCE OF THE HUDSON S BAY COMPANY IN THE EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT OF THE RED RIVER VALLEY OF THE NORTH As beaver became scarcer in the east, the quest for Castor Canadensis sent traders into the northern plains. Reluctant explorers, traders looked for easier access and cheaper means of transport. Initially content to wait on the shores of the Bay, HBC was forced to meet their competitors in the natives homelands. The Red River Valley was easily accessed from Hudson s Bay, becoming the center of the fur trade in the northern plains. HBC helped colonize the first permanent settlement west of the Great Lakes in the Red River Valley. Allowing white women and introducing cultivation into the area was a necessary change. The influence of the fur trade in North Dakota and of the Hudson s Bay Company on the exploration and settlement of the Red River Valley cannot be overemphasized. iii

4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have benefitted from the help of many people. My deepest gratitude to Dr. Mark Harvey, my advisor and instructor in several classes and to my committee: Dr. Ineke Justitz, Dr. Holly Bastow-Shoop and Dr. Larry Peterson, also instructors who have helped me get to this point. I appreciate everything you have all done for me and thank you for agreeing to be on this committee. Deep appreciation has to be paid to my Undergraduate advisor, Dr. Carolyn Schnell. She is such an advocate for older women returning to class and believed implicitly in me. To my many friends, Dr. Pamela Drayson, former Dean of NDSU libraries, another staunch advocate for women returning to classes, who read and critiqued every word. Your support was immeasurable. And to the girls at the office: Candy, Carole, Cheryl, Clarice, Janet, Kathy, Letha and Vicki, and our honorary YaYa, Bob who so graciously shared his office with me even putting up with my need for temperatures above 60. Thank you for your support. To my siblings and my children, who were convinced, more than I, that I could do this; even for the smart remarks: Mother, no one starts a term paper in February, or College is supposed to be hard. Or my Mother s: Why couldn t you have done this well in school? Finally, and most importantly, thank you to my husband for all I have put him through these last years and for finding the patience to allow me to finish this in my own time. Though he does admit that I did show him a little about how things are on the other side of that desk! Thank you to A. N. Korsos for permission to include the relevant portion of his map of The Posts and Forts of the Canadian Fur Trade, iv

5 DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my parents, Lt.-Col. Roland G. Ashman and Laura (Boucher) Ashman, who more than 50 years ago insisted that their five daughters had to be prepared for careers in the same way as their two sons were. Mother is thrilled and we know that Dad would have been very proud. v

6 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT...iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS... iv DEDICATION.... v LIST OF FIGURES...vii LITERATURE REVIEW...3 INTRODUCTION...7 EXPLORATIONS. 17 FUR TRADE WARS.35 RED RIVER COLONY.53 WOMEN OF THE FUR TRADE SETTLEMENT BIBLIOGRAPHY APPENDIX..115 vi

7 LIST OF FIGURES 1. MAP LEGEND 1 2. MAP: POSTS AND FORTS OF THE CANADIAN FUR TRADE vii

8 FIGURE 1: MAP LEGEND 1

9 FIGURE 2: MAP: POSTS AND FORTS OF THE CANADIAN FUR TRADE

10 LITERATURE REVIEW It is not difficult to find many histories of a company which has been a viable concern for almost 350 years. The Hudson s Bay Company was chartered May 2, The older books written about the Hudson s Bay Company often show the biases and preconceptions of earlier centuries. Beckles Willson published his book in Life in the northern plains was still developing. Joseph Hargrave and H.M. Robinson also published in the final years of the twentieth century. Written histories about the area were generally uncommon. The Companies had records from their factors at the posts. The journals of the explorers were not always as accurate as one could hope. Most often stories were orally passed down to family and friends, or polished around the campfire. Charles Napier Bell was a transplanted Canadian who settled in Winnipeg in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. He was profoundly interested in the history of the Red River Valley and wrote many papers which he presented to the Manitoba Historical Society between 1883 and His research was factually accurate as far as he could ascertain. The view of the Company s history would also be colored by the status of the writer. Sir Charles Schooling s book was published in London in 1929, to celebrate the 250 th anniversary of the charter. One might expect that he would be biased in the best interests of the Company. Conversely Robert Pinkerton, whose book was published in New York in 1931, hoped to give a truer perspective 1 of the Company. He had no great love for the English Adventurers who always remained in London. 2 He had factual knowledge of the area since his family lived in northern Ontario, not far from Winnipeg, in the early years of the twentieth century. There were 1 Robert Pinkerton, Hudson s Bay Company (New York: Henry Holt and Company), 1931, 6 2 Pinkerton, Hudson s Bay Company, 5 3

11 a handful of other books written in the first half of the twentieth century, including one written by a woman. Agnes Laut s book was published in The journals of the traders and explorers, and the reports of the trading companies are from an era very different to the twenty-first century. That world was very white-man centric. Culture and mores were very narrowly defined, and natives definitely did not live up to European and Canadien standards. These early books clearly show that the Europeans and Canadiens considered the natives to be wild, savage and amoral according to the standards of their time. Innes notes that they were regarded as bad people, who were armed to the teeth, and who waged war continually. 3 Native men were considered savages and uncivilized with mass generalizations about the people, developed from superficial speculations. Van Diver avers in 1929 that some men were better coureur de bois for that dash of Indian blood 4 Many terms, descriptions and ideas from the era of the fur trade would not be considered proper usage in today s literature. Even in mid-twentieth century, authors like Pritchett referred to natives by various soubriquets as bois brûlés or charcoal faces. The children of mixed marriages were referred to as dusky children or half-breeds. 5 Peter Newman did at least put the savages in quotation marks in Other writers in the middle of the last century like George Bryce, Marjorie Campbell, Walter O Meara, and Sylvia Van Kirk were more cognizant of societal changes. Van Kirk has also been a proponent in recognizing women s voices in history. 3 Harold Innes, The Fur Trade in Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1930), 14 4 Van Diver, The North West Company, 60 5 John Perry Pritchett, The Red River Valley, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1942), Peter C. Newman, Company of Adventurers (Markham: Penguin Books Canada, 1985), 13 4

12 European women had no status and so native women were less regarded than native men. It was not until well into the twentieth century, that women s history was beginning to be considered a study that had for too long been neglected. William Healy considers that the women of the Red River Settlement were in closer and more wounding contact than the men with the cruelly hard realities of life in such conditions. 7 As the title of his book suggests 8, he had interviews with women and/or their immediate families who remembered earlier days in the Red River Valley. Van Kirk brought the story of Thanadelthur to the notice of the world. The story had always been there, but it had never before been appreciated as a pivotal piece of history. In the latter half of the twentieth century, Canadian writers Peter C. Newman and J.M. Bumsted added much to the story of the Company and the Red River area. Deeper and more evolved research brings older and neglected research to the forefront and they both were able to present it in a more modern and presentable fashion. In the twenty-first century, writers Susan Sleeper-Smith, Carolyn Podruchny, and J.M Bumsted, among others, were adding much to the old history with more empathy to how other peoples were regarded, using terminology better suited to modern sensibilities. Newer and closer research brought new knowledge and resulted in books like Podruchny s Making the Voyageur World, or Sleeper-Smith s Rethinking the Fur Trade. Always new finds add to the old stories and modern sensitivities redirect research in areas, such as women s histories and history of native lore. Oral histories are now treated as more than stories of the past. Everything adds color and depth to the older narratives. 7 W.J. Healy, Women of Red River (Winnipeg: Peguis Publishers, 1923), 5. 8 Ibid. 5. 5

13 This thesis hopes to add to the collective. The focus is on the Red River Valley. Most histories of the Hudson s Bay Company give short shrift to the area, possibly a few pages, or at most, a chapter. It must be remembered that the Red River Valley was, for several years, the main focus of the fur trade wars between the Hudson s Bay Company and all of its competitors. The Hudson s Bay Company promoted, however reluctantly, settlement in the area. And the Red River Valley was the most important fur trading area in the Northern Plains for decades. It was the fur trade that promoted transportation from the northern plains to the rest of the world. It was the needs of the settlers that suggested a change in direction so that the Company could provide for those needs. This advocated a change towards the retail side. The older stories were the first and perhaps the most important basis for the story of the Hudson s Bay Company. Newer research and printings take those first books and build on them. They are the first vital building blocks that history starts with, and then additions are made to flesh out the story. No piece of history, however old, can be completely obliterated by the new. 6

14 INTRODUCTION The fur trade drove the exploration of much of inland North America. Beaver fur was much in demand in Europe, where the animal was almost extinct. Beaver seemed plentiful in the New World and were hunted ferociously until they retreated inland. Following them were traders, who almost accidentally became explorers. The Northern Plains was the first target for these followers of the beaver. The largest group of investors in the fur trade was the Hudson s Bay Company. Starting out with a few outposts on the edges of Hudson Bay, the men of the Company led the way into the Northern Plains and especially the Red River Valley of the North. The Red River Valley was more easily approached for these water-borne explorers and became the center of the fur trade. Trading posts along the waterways were the first temporary settlements of the Northern Plains and the Red River was the main conduit for the fur trade. The Red River Settlement was the first permanent colony of the Northern Plains. The Hudson s Bay Company was the first organized fur trading company in North America. Gradually the Company overwhelmed all competitors and their history was absorbed into the annals of The Company. The competition between the various companies and HBC drove the exploration of the Red River Valley and aided settlement. It is this story of the Hudson s Bay Company s influence in the Red River Valley that follows. The beaver was the principle target of the fur traders. The furs were wonderfully warm and water- and wind-repellent for newcomers to this new and often bitter climate. When the wealthy Europeans scrambled to own the expensive beaver furs, the trappers found a new and highly lucrative trade. Hats were an outward sign of an individual s wealth and rank and would be passed down as part of the family estate. 9 Beaver hats were extremely fashionable from the mid-sixteenth century until the middle of the nineteenth century with the styles evolving as 9 Retrieved 7/16/09. 7

15 fashions changed. Laws in Europe prohibited using cheaper furs to make hats. 10 The beaver was becoming extinct in Europe. John Cabot had reached Newfoundland in 1497, claiming the land for England. He did not find the seaway to Asia that he sought, but he did find an abundant supply of fish. European fishing vessels flocked to the area during the summer season, catching vast amounts of fish to take back home. The summer visitors also became interested in the glossy skins that the local people wore. A number of the furs were acquired for sparkly baubles and small metal articles and taken back home where they were sold for great profit. The Europeans soon found that The offer of a few toys and trinkets, knives or implements, was enough to induce the savages men, women and children to disrobe themselves and give over their furs. 11 These beaver robes, though quite odiferous were well worn to a rich sheen from contact with the body of the wearer. Called castor gras, greasy beaver, the skins proved extremely warm on the return voyage to Europe. 12 The demand for the furs became so great in Europe that the fishermen found that trading cheap trinkets for these lush pelts was easier and much more lucrative than their original trade. 13 More fishermen followed the lead of the first few, and began setting up posts along the coast in which to store the goods used to trade with the natives. The furs would be stored at the posts until they could be shipped to Europe. The earliest main post for the traders was at Tadoussac where the Saguenay River joins the St. Lawrence and now regarded as the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in Quebec. Trade expanded as exploration continued, following the St. Lawrence River into the interior. By the middle of the sixteenth century Jacques Cartier 10 Nathaniel C. Hale, Pelts and Palisades (Richmond, VA: Dietz Press, 1959), vii. 11 Arthur S. Morton, The North West Company in The Ryerson Canadian History Readers (Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1930), Marjorie Wilkins Campbell, The North West Company (New York: St. Martin s Press, 1957), Vandiver, The Fur-Trade and Early Western Exploration, 17. 8

16 had sailed down the St. Lawrence as far as he could go, before the rapids stopped him at the Indian village of Hochelaga, now Montreal. 14 Fishing was beginning to take second place to the trade in furs by That year a French vessel weighing thirty tons carried furs back to Europe. The next year, the ship weighed eighty tons. After that, several ships sailed every year carrying their extremely lucrative cargo. 15 Those first traders were a rough and undisciplined lot with each man looking out only for himself, with special privileges given to royal favorites. These favors changed almost as often as the wind across the Atlantic. Jean-Francçois de Roberval was given the first monopoly in January He was subsequently named the first Lieutenant-General of New France. In 1588, the French government granted a monopoly for twelve years to two men. The protest at such high-handedness caused the monopoly to be revoked almost immediately. Ten years later a man named LaRoche was granted the rights to trade fur within all the lands that were claimed for France. LaRoche failed at this, as it seems he had at everything else. He ended up in debtor s prison after attempting to cheat his men of their share of the profits. 17 In 1599 the monopoly was given to Pierre du Quast, Sieur de Monts, rescinded in 1607, and then restored to him until From that date until 1612 there were no further restraints or fees made on the traders; they were free to trap as they might. 18 In 1602, Samuel de Champlain helped to form an outpost at Acadia, on the St. Lawrence coast of Nova Scotia. He and his men explored the St. Lawrence as far as the rapids, to the point where Hochelaga had once stood, and in 1608, set up a new colony, which he named Mont 14 Ibid, Morton, The North West Company, Ernest Voorhis, Historic Forts and Trading Posts of the French Regime and of the English Fur Trading Companies (Ottawa: Natural Resources Intelligence Services, Department of the Interior, 1930), Vandiver, The North West Company, Voorhis, Historic Forts and Trading Posts, 16. 9

17 Royal. Champlain s Company set up in 1612, formally known as the Company of Rouen and St. Malo, attempted to establish a monopoly by prohibiting trade between the colonists and the First Nations tribes. The charter was cancelled in 1620 and the next year the Company of Montmorency was formed by Guillaume de Caen and his nephew. This monopoly lasted only a year. La Compagnie des Cent Associés, also known as the Company of New France, established by Richelieu on April 26, 1627 did not allow for trade by the colonists; instead all furs had to be handed over to the Compagnie. As a member of The Company of One Hundred Associates Champlain held the monopoly on furs for the entire length of the St. Lawrence. 19 Other explorations took him to Port Royal and further around the area, including, in 1605, as far as Plymouth Bay, some 15 years before the Mayflower landed there. 20 When the charter of this company was also revoked, Champlain had to leave Port Royal and he set up a post at Quebec City. He was required to explore the area and set up a colony, and let others take charge of the fur-trade. After further political machinations in France, Champlain determined to undertake more exploration. He set his base at Montreal where he could travel freely down the St. Lawrence and up the Ottawa rivers. He discovered that furs were being transported from tribe to tribe and brought for trade by intermediaries. 21 In short order, he set up fur-trading stations which were permanently maintained along the St. Lawrence River. The French continued to trade with the local tribes; the Huron who came from the West and the Algonquin natives of the Ottawa Valley. Hearing their stories of finding other better furs, Champlain listened and learned. He yearned to find Hudson s Bay and, he hoped, the passage to Asia for which Europeans had long searched. 19 Sir William Schooling, The Hudson s Bay Company (London: The Hudson s Bay Co., 1920), Vandiver, The North West Company, Morton, History of the Canadian West ,

18 In 1640, the Company of Notre Dame de Montréal split off from the Company of New France, taking control of the northeastern part of the island of Montreal. 22 The city of Montreal was established in 1642 and became the permanent and main base for explorers. In 1645, the fur trade monopoly was transferred to the colonists, and La Compagnie des Habitants was established. La Compagnie has the dubious distinction of being the first to employ brandy as an article of trade with the Indians. 23 In 1663, all powers and privileges passed to the King of France. Beaver was seemingly plentiful in North America. However, trappers and traders worked indiscriminately and it did not take long for the animals to become scarce in the areas of the continent where settlements first emerged. Trappers had to retreat further westward as encroaching settlements destroyed the beavers habitats. The explorer Henry Hudson had explored the river bearing his name in 1609, creating a route for the Iroquois to bring furs to the Dutch settlers there. There was bitter rivalry for the fur trade between the First Nations tribes who brought their pelts to the Europeans. The Huron and Algonquin around Lakes Huron and Ontario brought their furs to the French, and the Iroquois traded with the Dutch. In 1650, a bitter war between the tribes saw the total annihilation of seventeen Huron settlements between Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay, while the attacks on the Algonquin left the Ottawa River area and the shores of Lake Huron dispeopled. 24 This completely shattered the French fur trade and allowed the Iroquois to take over the territory. In 1653, surviving Huron and Ottawa natives instigated forays through their old territory in an attempt to resume trade. In 1654, they returned to the Upper Lakes Country accompanied by two Frenchmen, one of whom is thought to be Médard Chouart, Sieur de Groseilliers. The 22 Voorhis, Historic Forts and Trading Posts, Ibid, Morton, History of the Canadian West,

19 Frenchmen were charged by the Governor to restart the machinery of the French fur trade. 25 Groseilliers spent many of the following years setting up trade with the Huron and Ottawa. In 1658, he was accompanied by his brother-in-law, Pierre Radisson, who had spent several years of his youth, from 1651 to 1654, as a captive of the Iroquois. Radisson had managed to escape with the help of the Dutch and returned to Quebec in 1657 by way of Holland. Even at this early date, their minds filled with stories of abundant beaver in the north just waiting to be taken, Radisson and Groseilliers dreamed of a fur trading empire. In 1659, they set out for the unknown lands to the west. They crossed Wisconsin and reached the Mississippi ten years before Marquette did. It is not known exactly how far they travelled, but Radisson s papers suggest it is probable that they got as far as the Missouri and visited with the Mandans. In 1661, Radisson and Groseilliers proposed to the Intendant, Jean Talon that the fur trade should be extended to Hudson s Bay. The plan was soundly rejected. They set off under their own auspices into present-day northwestern Ontario, returning with a fleet of heavily-laden canoes, paddled by hundreds of First Nations tribesmen. 26 When they returned with some of the most luxuriant beaver pelts ever seen, their bounty was confiscated and they were heavily taxed for trading without a license. Groseilliers appealed to the French court and his money was returned. 27 They decided to take their proposal to the English and travelled to Boston. There, a member of King Charles II s court suggested they approach the King. Groseilliers took their plan to London, and in 1667, he was introduced to Prince Rupert, the Bohemian princely adventurer nephew of King Charles I. Escaping from Cromwell s Puritan forces, Rupert had 25 Ibid, Hale, Pelts and Palisades, Elle Andra-Warner, Hudson s Bay Company Adventures: The Rollicking Saga of Canada s Fur Traders (Surrey, B.C.: Heritage House Publishing Company, 2009),

20 sailed the high seas, leading the remnants of the British fleet, into the life of privateering, to no small profit. After King Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660, Rupert was given command of the Royal navy in a war against the Dutch. Rupert returned to Britain to acclamation for his success and retired to a quieter life involving art and science. Prince Rupert was pleased to help fund an English expedition to find a north-west passage into Hudson s Bay and channel into the South Sea. 28 Among the many other nobles and gentlemen he invited to join the enterprise was the Sea. 29 Among the many other nobles and gentlemen he invited to join the enterprise was the Duke of York, later to be King James II. In 1664, the English took New York from the Dutch. The English settlers, further south, were beginning to prosper and their settlements were growing. They had jealously eyed the rich furs of the French traders. The political situation in Europe was the same as always: Britain was at war with France, Protestants fought Catholics, and the wars spilled over into the new world. The French traders managed to get along with most of the Indian tribes they met, while the English to the south took exception to the ways of Indian life and constantly quarreled with them. The sole exception to this was the Iroquois, who hated the French but allied themselves to the English. The friendship between the English and the Iroquois would be a dangerous union for the French. In 1668, Groseilliers, outfitted with the Nonsuch, and Radisson with the Eaglet, sailed for Hudson s Bay. 30 The Eaglet turned back before reaching Hudson Strait, but the Nonsuch reached Hudson s Bay and sailed south. On September 29 the Nonsuch arrived at 28 Beckles Willson, The Great Company, Being a History of the Honorable Company of Merchants-Adventurers Trading into Hudson s Bay (Toronto: the Copp, Clark Company, Ltd., 1899), Ibid, Schooling, The Hudson s Bay Company, 4. 13

21 the mouth of the newly christened Rupert River. 31 Construction on Fort Charles began immediately, in order to survive the fast approaching winter. Within days, natives appeared and Groseilliers explained the purpose of their fort. The natives left, promising to return with furs. Within a year of arrival, the Nonsuch returned to England, loaded to the waterline to report the promising news that the French fur-trade monopoly along the St. Lawrence had been bypassed. 32 They also proved that the easiest and shortest way to the beaver empire was by salt water. 33 In May 1669, Radisson and Groseilliers returned to Rupert River area and at Port Nelson the land was taken in the name of the English King and the royal arms were placed in proof of the fact. The English had to have been interested in the scheme from the outset, though they did not impart that knowledge to Radisson and Groseilliers. The first Stock Book shows that three years before the Charter was given, substantial amounts of money were provided for the cause. The list of investors was headed by the Duke of York, later King James II, who donated 300 to the cause. Investors included the Duke of Abermarle, the Earls of Arlington, Craven and Shaftsbury, and several others. 34 On Friday May 2, 1670, a document from the King was delivered to his dear and entirely beloved cousin Prince Rupert. 35 The document recorded that he and seventeen others were incorporated into a company, with the exclusive right to establish settlements and carry on trade at Hudson s Bay. 36 In June of that year, Lady Margaret Drex, the wife of a financier, became the first woman shareholder, making nineteen members of the company. 37 The Governor and Company of Merchants-Adventurers trading into Hudson s Bay was granted by 31 Willson, The Great Company, Schooling, The Hudson s Bay Company, Robert E. Pinkerton, Hudson s Bay Company Schooling, The Hudson s Bay Company, Willson, The Great Company, Andra-Warner, Hudson s Bay Company Adventures,

22 the Crown to a monopoly of trading in the newly named Rupert s Land, the territory whose waters flowed into Hudson s Bay. Rupert s Land would come to cover a third of the North American continent; 3.8 million square kilometers encompassing Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, southern Saskatchewan, Alberta, the eastern part of the Northwest Territories and what is now much of Minnesota and North Dakota. 38 Prince Rupert remained Governor of the company until he died in He was then replaced as Governor by his cousin James, Duke of York, who served until the death of Charles in 1685when he was crowned King James II. HBC had total control over the area, including the ability to wage war with the natives, whereas war with other Christian sovereigns required the permission of the British king. 39 King Charles signature at the bottom of the last of five huge sheets of parchment 40, comprising seven thousand words of hand-lettered text 41 is an enduring symbol of a time when the King ruled everything and doled it out as he pleased. Over the centuries, the Charter has defeated a multitude of efforts to overturn it, but it remains unbreakable in law. At the time, there was no objection to a charter giving unlimited powers to an unknown, subarctic land peopled only by red savages. 42 There was no way of knowing what it would become, how long it would last, and least of all, how important the Company would be in the discovery and settling of North America. The Company had its own flag, the Union Jack with the letters HBC on it, which some said stood for Here Before Christ. 43 Peter Newman does suggest they might have better suggested Here Before Canada. 44 The flag would fly over a vast territory for several centuries. The wealth that HBC would control over the next several centuries was simply 38 Pinkerton, Hudson s Bay Company, Andra-Warner, Hudson s Bay Company Adventures, Pinkerton, Hudson s Bay Company, Pinkerton, Hudson s Bay Company, Walter O Meara, The Savage Country (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1960), Peter C. Newman, Caesars of the Wilderness (Markham, ON: Penguin Books Canada, 1987), xxi. 15

23 unimaginable to those eighteen men and one woman who supplied the funds to start the enterprise. 16

24 EXPLORATIONS The Hudson s Bay Company was fortunate. The beaver that the Company traded so fiercely were found on the waterways of the nation. There was a wide variety of routes, but all eventually ran either north to Hudson Bay, or south to the St. Lawrence and thereby to the Atlantic Ocean. It was possible to make one s way from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, the northern plains and the lush woodlands of the United States via the easy transport of the birch bark canoe to the various posts and forts around Hudson Bay. The trip was not easy and could be very dangerous, but for the Indian traders there was ample reward for undertaking the journey. The newly established Company on Hudson s Bay had an immediate effect on the French fur-trade. The French had introduced European goods which were carried further west by the First Nations middlemen who took goods in trade of beaver furs. Now those western tribes could make their way to English posts along the Bay, making a shorter trip and trading greater amounts of furs. Even after the formation of the Hudson s Bay Company, French traders continued to carry on their trade. As the Hudson s Bay Company did little exploring, it was the French fleur de lis that was carried inland, and under which flag the furs were sent back up the St. Lawrence to France. For the first one hundred years, HBC had only seven posts at the mouths of the major rivers flowing into Hudson Bay or James Bay. The rivers were the venue for the First Nations tribes travelling by canoe, often a long difficult journey that could take the entire summer to reach the trading posts and return to their homes. The Englishmen who operated the posts had little to do but wait for the furs to arrive and be prepared for the trade. The employees of the Hudson s Bay Company were, for the most part, British men sent out to organize and run a 17

25 trading post. Their intent was to fulfill their contract, willing to suffer the isolation of the inhospitable north so they could return home with the wages they had saved, hoping for a better life in the old country. They were pompous and aloof from their trader tribesmen, treating them as inferior beings and often even forbidding them access to the trade room, forcing them to select their goods through a window. 45 With little competition, they were able to continue their highhanded methods and gain considerable profit. The traders of HBC saw no need to change their ways. Many of the working men at HBC posts were Orkneymen, rugged men from the small islands north of Scotland, considered to be inured to hard work in wintery conditions very similar to those of Hudson Bay. The saying in the Orkneys was that their sons moved to Hudson Bay to get warm. 46 They signed on to the Company for free room and board, so that upon returning home with their payment intact, they could set themselves up for better lives. The French continued their trade. Everything north and west of their settlements on the St. Lawrence was considered by the French as belonging to France, both by charter and because the French explored and settled the area. The Council of New France, authorized by Cardinal Richelieu, had sent a ship into North Bay (Hudson s Bay), to take possession of the Bay. That record is dated August 26, The English also considered their claim to be righteous. Violence ensued with success to first one then the other until In that year with the Treaty of Ryswick, England recognized France s ownership of Hudson Bay. In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht returned ownership of Hudson Bay to England and the Company reestablished its posts on Hudson Bay. It must be noted that neither treaty fixed distinct boundaries Pritchett, The Red River Valley, Newman, Caesars of the Wilderness, Pritchett, The Red River Valley, Ibid, 6. 18

26 Though Radisson and Groseilliers were the men who brought fur trading to the notice of the English, there was a certain reluctance to put complete trust in the Frenchmen. Especially suspicious was Charles Bayly, the fanatical Quaker the king had freed from the Tower of London, in 1669, on condition that he leave the country and take the position of overseas governor of the Company. It was Bayly who established posts on the shores of Hudson Bay and worked out HBC s factory system. 49 Bayly hated the French and was determined to be rid of Radisson and Groseilliers. By the end of 1675, they had both left the Company and the Bay area. Radisson even returned to England for a visit with his wife, the daughter of Sir John Kirke, one of the original eighteen investors. 50 Both Radisson and Groseilliers joined a rival group, La Compagnie du Nord, which had been formed in Quebec and, by 1682 they were back on Hudson Bay. After confronting a group of New Englanders who were trying to capitalize on the northern fur trade, they advanced to meet the English. In 1683, Radisson took first Port Nelson, then Fort Bourbon, his own fort, taking the governor prisoner. 51 When Radisson and Groseilliers reached Montreal they were taxed heavily on the furs they brought back, some of which they had taken from their rivals, the HBC. Amazingly within a year the HBC offered to rehire both des Groseilliers and Radisson. 52 Groseilliers returned home to Quebec. Radisson rejoined HBC and went on to become the superintendent and director of trade, but his return to HBC tagged him a traitor to France. Even the company he had joined and helped progress, La Compagnie du Nord, was against him. The workhorses of the Canadian fur trade were the coureurs de bois and the voyageurs. At home on the rivers and familiar with the inland waterways they transported men, equipment, 49 Andra-Warner, Hudson s Bay Company Adventures, Ibid, Ibid, Ibid,

27 and their precious furs between the trading posts and Montreal. The birch bark canoe was the only means of transportation between the northwest and the ports of the east. The coureurs de bois, considered savage-like renegades trading illegally, were of French and First Nations heritage, which made them excellent river men. It was believed that The English were always far better seamen than the French but the latter, once the dash of Indian blood was added, far excelled as a river man and a canoe man. 53 The natives had interconnected the waterways with overland portages and the French traders followed these paths. The French settlers had always depended on the waterways for transportation, while the English settlers preferred the overland routes. Travelling the many waterways and portages that linked the rivers enabled these hardy men to penetrate inland much more easily than fighting the forests and mountains to forge overland trails. French explorations quickly progressed further west and south. The coureurs de bois plied the fur trade on their own and sold their furs to the highest bidder. They set themselves up and bought their own equipment, though they might sell their services to a seller. They operated without licenses and went where they pleased. They often lived among the tribesmen, taking native wives and were regarded by their opponents as having no consciences or compunction about doing whatever it took to get money. Voyageurs thought themselves better than the coureurs de bois. They were considered legitimate fur traders. They were respected as a better class of waterman; their uncanny mastery of birch canoe navigation was a revelation even to Indians. 54 Voyageurs were sponsored by one of the many merchant companies based in Montreal, with the equivalent of work permits for a season. 53 Van Diver, The North West Company, Charles M. Gates, Ed, Five Fur Traders of the Northwest (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1965), 5. 20

28 Life for the voyageurs was never easy. They lived and slept outside, with minimal shelter from storms or cold. They were always on the move, needing to find the next parcel of goods for trade to satisfy the bosses in Montreal. They were virtual slaves to the Company, to the point that by 1791, it was said 900 employees of the Company owed it more than the wages of ten or fifteen year s engagement. 55 The voyageurs were vital to the running of the fur trade, and they were treated very well for their skill and knowledge of the waters they traversed, but they would never become a partner nor anything but the watermen that they were. They left Montreal as soon as the winter ice was gone, though they would often have to break ice before leaving at dawn each morning. No matter how cold the water, someone would have to jump out and steady the boat each time they stopped, for meals, or at one of the thirty-six portages between Lachine and Georgian Bay. 56 They would travel until almost dark, their only break when a pipe was called and they shipped their paddles for a smoke. They would measure their day s journey by the number of pipes smoked. 57 A good voyageur could paddle forty strokes a minute maintaining that pace for the day, aside from meal breaks and the short pipes. 58 Occasionally, they would stage a race on a wide-open stretch of water such as Lake Winnipeg. During such races, they might reach speeds up to sixty-five strokes per minute, which speed might be maintained until exhaustion forced a stop. Such events were not common occurrences. Any voyageur that played a musical instrument was encouraged to bring it along to enliven the nightly campfires. The musical interludes were the only entertainment on the long journey and the musician would be paid extra for this skill Voorhis, Historic Forts and Trading Posts, Campbell, The North West Company, Ibid, Ibid, From CTV: History Makers: The Lord of the North, (Alexander Mackenzie). Aired January 19,

29 A major fort had been built at Grande Portage on Lake Superior as a base from which they could explore and easily conduct their furs back to Montreal. Grand Portage is at the northeast corner of Minnesota, near Ontario, and at the beginning of a long portage from the Great Lakes. There were two classes of voyageurs. One class of voyageur would paddle from Montreal to Grand Portage, and then turn around for the trip back to Montreal. Because they only knew this small part of the route they were referred to either as come and go men or more snidely as manguers de lard or pork-eaters. The old hands who went the rest of the route and spent the winters in the west were known as hivernants or winterers. 60 Voyageurs worked in parties, some small and others were quite large. Carolyn Podruchny describes their recruitment by agents who may well have been former voyageurs on behalf of Montreal companies. The agent might recruit from his own parish or village, so the voyageurs would be known to each other and work well together. The agent would be stationed in Montreal during the winter and hope to fulfill his commissions before the trade season started. If not enough voyageurs had been hired, the agent would have to go out to the major trading posts in hope of finding men who willing to take on the job. The agent would be paid a commission for each man hired. Podruchny gives the example of James Frobisher who paid his agent five shillings for everyman he hired to come and go (pork-eaters), one guinea for each winterer. 61 These early fur traders were rampaging free enterprisers of the North American frontier who worked for themselves and proved themselves able to withstand whatever conditions came their way. They followed their gutsy instincts, convinced that their unorthodox methods were 60 Gates, Five Fur Traders of the Northwest, Carolyn Podruchny, Making the Voyageur World: Travelers and Traders in the North American Fur Trade (Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 2006),

30 the only right way of doing things. 62 The Hudson s Bay Company contemptuously referred to them as pedlars, thieves and interlopers in part as soubriquet for the difference in their attitudes to trade. 63 The traders, who worked for the various smaller companies were rugged and knowledgeable individuals who went into the Indian encampments with their trade goods. They then had to make their way back to the few posts that would accept the furs and trade for the supplies needed to survive the coming winter. The furs were sent by canoe to Montreal then taken by ship down the St. Lawrence and across the Atlantic to Europe, usually to England though many did go to France. The Pedlars went where the furs were; they did not wait for them to be brought to them. Early Explorations The early traders who organized the expeditions into the northern plains were not just traders. Almost by accident, in the quest for furs, they became some of the greatest explorers the northwest would ever know. The names of some of them are legendary, with rivers, territories and other landmarks bearing their names. Their first job was to trade for the furs which would be sent to Europe for resale. But the profit margin would grow if the acquisition costs of the furs were reduced. To that end, exploration of the lands might show an easier and faster route back to the posts. Time would be saved and expenses would be smaller. Also, as the traders learned from the natives about living in this seemingly inhospitable land, they could reduce expenses by using native methods of living and eating. One of the earliest explorations by the Hudson s Bay Company was led by a native woman who had found her way to the post at York. The chief factor sent a party, led by Thanadelthur, out to broker a peace between the Cree and Chipewyan. She was a native of a far 62 Newman, Caesars of the Wilderness, xvii. 63 Pritchett, Red River Fur Trade,

31 northern tribe who had been enslaved by a rival tribe, but managed to escape to a Hudson s Bay fort. She was knowledgeable about the territory and the tensions between the rival tribes. After the peace, a fort was built at Churchill, closer to the natives homelands. La Vérendrye Coureurs de bois had long used the point where the Kaministiquia River emptied into Lake Superior as a stopping point. Fur trade had been carried on in the area from the 1650s. After the establishment of the Hudson s Bay Company, Indian traders had to travel past Lake Nipigon to reach the Albany River and up to the posts on Hudson Bay. In 1717 a post was established on Lake Nipigon by the French traders to disrupt the Indian route to the Hudson Bay posts. Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de la Vérendrye, was sent in 1727 to command the posts on Lake Nipigon. A great outdoorsman, adventurer and a born explorer 64 La Vérendrye embraced the opportunities that life at the edge of French civilization offered. He listened to the Indians talk about a great river flowing into the sea. Others had determined that the route lay through the lands of the Sioux, but that was too dangerous; the Sioux were a fighting tribe. La Vérendrye planned to go north. In 1731, Sieur de la Vérendrye, with his three oldest sons and his nephew, was given permission to explore the lands from where the traders returned each year with such magnificent furs. He was 46 years old and his sons were Jean-Baptiste aged18, Pierre17, and François16. His passion was the outdoors, and he hoped that his explorations would become a source of revenue, especially if he could find the fabled overland route to the Pacific. But permission from the King of France was not accompanied by any funds to outfit the expedition. Instead 64 Lawrence J. Burpee, Ed. Journals and Letters of Pierre Gaultier De Varennes De La Vérendrye And His Sons (Toronto: The Champlain Society, 1927), 8. 24

32 Vérendrye was given the monopoly to the fur-trade, 65 the profits of which would have to cover his expenses. He was able to convince a party of Montreal merchants to advance him the equipment he needed for a large consideration of future profits he might gain. Obviously, fur trading would have to take precedence over exploration and progress on that front would be painstakingly slow and frustrating. La Vérendrye and his party got as far as the portage at Rainy Lake, which connects the tributaries of Lake Superior with those of Lake Winnipeg. It was too late in the year for the party to make the return journey so they spent the winter in a post they named Fort Saint Pierre. It was from here that, in 1732, he encouraged the natives from Lake Winnipeg to trade with him at Fort St. Charles at Lake of the Woods. The area of Fort St. Charles is now known as the North-West Angle, the only place in the lower 48 United States which is north of the 49 th parallel, and is accessible only by boat, by air or by car through Manitoba, or in winter by iceroad. La Vérendrye was the first white man to explore the northern plains. Intent on expanding his territory, in 1733 he sent his second son, Pierre, to the mouth of the Red River to establish a post there. In 1734, Fort Maurepas, named for the French Minister of the Colonies, was built near the mouth of the Red River. That same year, when La Vérendrye returned from meeting with the Governor in Quebec, he brought his youngest son, Louis-Joseph back to Fort St. Charles. In 1736, his nephew La Jemeraye died and his oldest son Jean-Baptiste, with his party of men were killed by the Sioux on an island in Lake of the Woods. Losing his two most capable and experienced lieutenants, was difficult for him. 66 The loss of two very experienced 65 Ibid, Burpee, Journals and Letters of La Vérendrye,

33 men, along with the ongoing struggle to keep peace with the tribes and the constant relentless details of the fur-trade, meant that progress in his explorations was very slow. In 1737 at the Forks of the Assiniboine, La Vérendrye harangued the Indians until they agreed to trade with him. 67 He extolled the advantages of trading with him rather than the English: they give you no credit; they do not allow you inside their fort; you cannot choose the merchandise you want, they reject some of your skins, which becomes a dead loss to you after you have had great trouble in carrying them to their post. 68 Exploring south and north, he built numerous posts dominating Lake Winnipeg, Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipegosis. In 1738, La Vérendrye chose to build Fort la Reine at the present Portage la Prairie, on the site of the earlier Fort St. Pierre because it was here that the Indians passed north to Lake Manitoba, through Lakes Manitoba, and Winnipegosis, across to Cedar Lake before starting the canoe voyage to York and the English trading posts. Morden, Manitoba boasts that La Vérendrye, with his party of fifty, while on their way to the Missouri River, passed near the site where that city sits, camping overnight at Calf Mountain. 69 La Vérendrye sent his son in 1739 to try to prevent the Indians from going to the English. 70 Fort Rouge was abandoned in 1739 as it was no longer needed after Fort la Reine was built. Fort Maurepas on the Red River was moved that same year to the mouth of the Winnipeg River. In 1747, the younger Pierre found both forts had been destroyed by Indians. However, in a paper presented to the Manitoba Historical Society in 1926, Mr. C. N. Bell, gave, as a personal opinion, the view that no post existed south of the Assiniboine. 71 He postulates that because La Verendrye and his sons were so specific in their accounts of establishing posts around Lake Winnipeg, that there would have 67 E.E Rich, Hudson s Bay Company, Volume I: , (New York: The Macmillan Company,1960), Innes, The Fur Trade in Canada, retrieved Nov Innes, The Fur Trade in Canada, Charles N. Bell, Early Occupation by Fur Traders of the Upper Red River and Northern Minnesota, 1926, 3. 26

34 been a definite record of one on the Upper Red River, if such a post had existed. Much of Bell s information on fur traders along the Red River is taken from the journals of Alexander Henry the Younger who was in charge of Northwest Company operations on the Upper Red River from 1800 to Bell notes that Alexander Henry the Elder did follow La Verendrye s route as far as Lake Winnipeg, then continued on to the Athabasca region. Fort Bourbon was built in 1742 on the west side of Cedar Lake with the intent of intercepting the natives travelling to the English trading posts. With the natives no longer needing to spend the summer canoeing to Hudson Bay, this ploy severely reduced trade to the Company. 73 La Vérendrye sent his son the Chevalier (originally thought to be Pierre, the oldest surviving son, but further evidence appears to show that Francois was known as the Chevalier, though the proof is not definitive 74 ) on an expedition to seek out the natives further to the west known as the Ouachipouennes or the Mandans. 75 By October 1778, they had reached the Missouri River. The Chevalier had to return to Fort La Reine for supplies, leaving some of his men behind in the hopes that they would learn the Mandan language. Hearing about a salt lake to the west, La Vérendrye sent his son to investigate, but Pierre returned the next summer without success. In 1742, both sons returned to the Mandan villages and set out with a party of natives to explore further. They crossed the area bounded on the north by the Missouri and on the south by the Black Hills, saw the Bad Lands. 76 By June 1, 1743 Pierre stood at the foot of the Rockies. A howling blizzard drove the party back to camp, ending further exploration in the 72 Lauren W. Ritterbush, Fur Trade Posts at Pembina in North Dakota History, v.59 no , Charles N. Bell, Henry Kelsey s Journal, Burpee, Journals and Letters of La Vérendrye, Rich, Hudson s Bay Company : Volume I, Van Diver, The Fur Trade and Early Western Exploration,